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ssherwood
Premium Member
join:2002-02-23
Toronto, ON

ssherwood to Thane_Bitter

Premium Member

to Thane_Bitter

Re: Bell Lines vs. Tree

said by Thane_Bitter:

Flip side of things, if Bell and Rogers came along and cut out all vegetation within their utility corridor (aerials to homes are the homeowners problem), just imagine the bloody uproar of homeowners complaining about all the damage, destruction of nature, etc. etc. etc. and rant about it to every media outlet and orifice they can find.

...

I don't know - Hydro prunes all of the city trees in our area to allow their aerial cables to pass under/through them. It isn't exactly pretty when they are done, but with this kind of infrastructure, there really isn't a choice.
said by AsherN:

What do you expect Bell to do about a tree on private property?
If the tree downs the lines, then they can go after the owner, but before, they are not entitled to do anything to that tree.

I don't think that is accurate. Bell & Rogers have every right to maintain their property, even if it resides on someone else's property. I'm fairly certain that my property includes a utility right-of-way, as do all of the other homes on my street as there is no rear lane. My rear fence is immediately touching the right-of-way which in turn touches the property on the other side.

If Bell/Rogers needs to enter a property like mine with a utility right-of-way to service their equipment, they are probably legally entitled to do so. They also probably have to give non-customers some kind of notice before they can.

While they couldn't cut down the tree entirely, I'm sure some pruning would be perfectly within their right so long as it could be demonstrated as a reasonable step to protect their equipment, and it was done in a way that didn't damage the health of the tree.

Anyway - what do I expect them to do? Defend their property and their customers by taking proactive action when potential trouble is highlighted for them.

-- SS

news
@videotron.ca

news

Anon

It will probably be too much expensive to pay for trimming trees to prevent issues that probably will never happen. Less expensive to fix cable if a bad luck happen. Bell is a 125? years old company, they know their buisness more than you and me....

I suppose power is another story, cause power lines and trees can be dangerous for people, in bad, humid weather...

ssherwood
Premium Member
join:2002-02-23
Toronto, ON

ssherwood

Premium Member

said by news :

It will probably be too much expensive to pay for trimming trees to prevent issues that probably will never happen. Less expensive to fix cable if a bad luck happen. Bell is a 125? years old company, they know their buisness more than you and me....

I wasn't suggesting that they go around looking for trees to prune like Hydro does. I called them and told them about a specific problem. Big difference IMHO.

Hydro does it due to safety concerns. While Bell lines do have some voltage on them, it probably wouldn't be enough to be seriously dangerous.

Anyway - I called them. They ignored me.

Hypothetical situation : I wonder if I could sue for negligence if the tree broke my line after I told them repeatedly about it and I suffered some kind of harm due to a non working telephone service for 911 or similar.

It would be fairly tough for them to claim that they didn't know there was an issue, or that they couldn't have predicted the failure...

-- SS
AsherN
Premium Member
join:2010-08-23
Thornhill, ON

AsherN to ssherwood

Premium Member

to ssherwood
said by ssherwood:

said by Thane_Bitter:

Flip side of things, if Bell and Rogers came along and cut out all vegetation within their utility corridor (aerials to homes are the homeowners problem), just imagine the bloody uproar of homeowners complaining about all the damage, destruction of nature, etc. etc. etc. and rant about it to every media outlet and orifice they can find.

...

I don't know - Hydro prunes all of the city trees in our area to allow their aerial cables to pass under/through them. It isn't exactly pretty when they are done, but with this kind of infrastructure, there really isn't a choice.
said by AsherN:

What do you expect Bell to do about a tree on private property?
If the tree downs the lines, then they can go after the owner, but before, they are not entitled to do anything to that tree.

I don't think that is accurate. Bell & Rogers have every right to maintain their property, even if it resides on someone else's property. I'm fairly certain that my property includes a utility right-of-way, as do all of the other homes on my street as there is no rear lane. My rear fence is immediately touching the right-of-way which in turn touches the property on the other side.

If Bell/Rogers needs to enter a property like mine with a utility right-of-way to service their equipment, they are probably legally entitled to do so. They also probably have to give non-customers some kind of notice before they can.

While they couldn't cut down the tree entirely, I'm sure some pruning would be perfectly within their right so long as it could be demonstrated as a reasonable step to protect their equipment, and it was done in a way that didn't damage the health of the tree.

Anyway - what do I expect them to do? Defend their property and their customers by taking proactive action when potential trouble is highlighted for them.

-- SS

Pruning the tree is not maintaining their equipment. It does not matter how much the tree infringes on their lines. My neighbour has a large tree in his backyard. Some of the limbs were brushing against my roof. I called an arborist to take care of it. Still had to get written permisson from the neighbour to cut the branches over my property.

ssherwood
Premium Member
join:2002-02-23
Toronto, ON

ssherwood

Premium Member

Splitting hairs much? If the tree is interfering with their equipment and/or threatening the integrity of their network, it would be considered maintenance, and Bell would have every right to proactively fix the situation.

The tree in my situation is NOT adjacent to my property, nor does it overhang my property.

The law says you can trim branches which hang over your property. You don't require permission. The only requirement is that any trimming has to be done properly, and the overall health of the tree has to be respected.

Arborists asking for written permission are only trying to cover themselves in case of a later dispute. I have this situation happen every couple of years with one of my neighbors. She asks for my permission first because the arborist likes to trim the tree from my property. If he did it from her side, she wouldn't need to ask first. I have never been asked to sign anything.

news
@videotron.ca

news to ssherwood

Anon

to ssherwood
said by ssherwood:

I wasn't suggesting that they go around looking for trees to prune like Hydro does. I called them and told them about a specific problem. Big difference IMHO.

-- SS

Trees pressing down aerial cables is common. Bell Canada have so many customers and networks on a very large territory, there's maybe hundreds of call about this, you are not the only one. If there's 2 millions Bell customers (probably more) and if there's only 0.1% of this customers calling for this kind of issue, that means 2000 service calls for trimming trees.

You worry too much...

nitzguy
Premium Member
join:2002-07-11
Sudbury, ON

nitzguy to ssherwood

Premium Member

to ssherwood
said by ssherwood:

Splitting hairs much? If the tree is interfering with their equipment and/or threatening the integrity of their network, it would be considered maintenance, and Bell would have every right to proactively fix the situation.

The tree in my situation is NOT adjacent to my property, nor does it overhang my property.

The law says you can trim branches which hang over your property. You don't require permission. The only requirement is that any trimming has to be done properly, and the overall health of the tree has to be respected.

Arborists asking for written permission are only trying to cover themselves in case of a later dispute. I have this situation happen every couple of years with one of my neighbors. She asks for my permission first because the arborist likes to trim the tree from my property. If he did it from her side, she wouldn't need to ask first. I have never been asked to sign anything.

Ultimately, its up to the homeowner in question who owns the tree, if the tree is on public property, then it'd be up to the city...otherwise, here is what will happen...

In theory if the tree "snaps" these wires, bell will simply come back out and restring it. Its not negligence on their part, its negligence on whoever owns the tree's part...so I think you're trying to point the finger at bell when infact you need to point the finger at the homeowner who has decided that maintenance of his /her property isn't important....

ssherwood
Premium Member
join:2002-02-23
Toronto, ON

ssherwood

Premium Member

said by nitzguy:

Ultimately, its up to the homeowner in question who owns the tree, if the tree is on public property, then it'd be up to the city...otherwise, here is what will happen...

In theory if the tree "snaps" these wires, bell will simply come back out and restring it. Its not negligence on their part, its negligence on whoever owns the tree's part...so I think you're trying to point the finger at bell when infact you need to point the finger at the homeowner who has decided that maintenance of his /her property isn't important....

You are right - the homeowner should be the one responsible for maintaining the tree in this case as it is in their back yard, and thus not a city tree.

Still, I would hope for a more proactive response from Bell, but I guess they have their reasons. Someone, somewhere in Bell probably calculated it costs them less to fix broken lines than trim branches before the damage occurs.

The whole conversation about if Bell has the right to do it though is separate, and in my view they absolutely do have that right if they choose to leverage it.

Clearly though Bell has decided to cede responsibility to the home owner. Sucks for the rest of us though to have to rely on the whim of whoever lives down the block from you for reliable services...

nitzguy
Premium Member
join:2002-07-11
Sudbury, ON

nitzguy

Premium Member

said by ssherwood:

said by nitzguy:

Ultimately, its up to the homeowner in question who owns the tree, if the tree is on public property, then it'd be up to the city...otherwise, here is what will happen...

In theory if the tree "snaps" these wires, bell will simply come back out and restring it. Its not negligence on their part, its negligence on whoever owns the tree's part...so I think you're trying to point the finger at bell when infact you need to point the finger at the homeowner who has decided that maintenance of his /her property isn't important....

You are right - the homeowner should be the one responsible for maintaining the tree in this case as it is in their back yard, and thus not a city tree.

Still, I would hope for a more proactive response from Bell, but I guess they have their reasons. Someone, somewhere in Bell probably calculated it costs them less to fix broken lines than trim branches before the damage occurs.

The whole conversation about if Bell has the right to do it though is separate, and in my view they absolutely do have that right if they choose to leverage it.

Clearly though Bell has decided to cede responsibility to the home owner. Sucks for the rest of us though to have to rely on the whim of whoever lives down the block from you for reliable services...

Well, that'd be convenient for the homeowner, ceede their responsibility to Bell/Cable co to take care of their property?

Here's what will happen if anything, the company won't trim the branches, they will simply restring their lines....

And you're right, its cheaper to fix their equipment vs. having tree trimming person come out...that's why the city does it for the city trees and that's why having trees on your property isn't a free lunch...or at least ones that can encumber aerial equipment.

They wouldn't do it though....and the homeowner is free to treat their trees as they see fit, perhaps look through your local bylaws to have bylaw enforcement take a look at it if possible?